The rape of Taraneh

Prison Abuse of Iran's Protesters

Shirin Sadeghi, Huffington Post: On Friday, July 19, a large group of mourners gathered at the Ghoba mosque in Tehran to await a speech about the martyrs of the post-election protests by presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. According to one Iranian blog, 28-year-old Taraneh Mousavi was one of a group of people that was arrested by plainclothes security forces for attending the gathering. Taraneh, whose first name is Persian for 'song,' disappeared into arrest.

Weeks later, according to the blog, her mother received an anonymous call from a government agent saying that her daughter had been hospitalized in Imam Khomeini Hospital in the city of Karaj, just north of Tehran -- hospitalized 'for rupturing of her womb and anus in... an unfortunate accident.' When Taraneh's family went to the hospital to find her, they were told she was not there.

According to another Iranian blog which claims to have original information about Taraneh from her family, Iranian security forces contacted Taraneh's family after the hospital visit warning them not to publicize Taraneh's story and not to associate her disappearance with arrests made at post-election protests, claiming instead that she had tried to harm herself because of feeling guilty for having pre-marital sex.

Witnesses have come forward to the various Internet sites who are covering Taraneh's story, stating that she was mentally and physically abused in Tehran's notorious Evin prison and also that a person who matches her physical description and injuries had been treated at the Imam Khomeini Hospital, was unconscious when witnessed and was later transferred out of the hospital while still unconscious...

Despite its agitations for reform, Iranian society remains traditional, according to Iranian-British blogger Potkin Azarmehr, and it's the stigma of rate that is being used as a weapon against the protesters. 'By killing protesters, the government makes martyrs of them, but by raping them and allowing them to live, it makes them shunned in society.'...

The story of Taraneh's condition is still unfolding and there are no certain confirmations of its details beyond the reports of bloggers who are obliged to remain anonymous for safety reasons -- but the idea that political prisoners are being mistreated in this way is not new to Iran and is a significant element of a program of terror which has sustained the current system in Iran.

Taraneh's story must be told and it must be heard. Perhaps her life can still be saved.

Image source here.

If pro-Israel comments all sound the same...

The Foreign Ministry presents: talkbackers in the service of the State

Calcalist: The Foreign Ministry is in the process of setting up a team of students and demobilized soldiers who will work around the clock writing pro-Israeli responses on Internet websites all over the world, and on services like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube...

"The Internet is a theatre in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose,' [says] Elan Shturman... Our objective is to penetrate into the world in which these discussions are taking place... We will introduce a pro-Israel voice into those places."...

"Their missions will be defined along the lines of the government policies that they will be required to defend on the Internet... We will determine which international audiences we want to reach through the Internet and the strategy we will use to reach them, and the workers will implement that in the field. Of course they will not distribute official communiques; they will draft the conversations themselves. We will also activate an Internet-monitoring team -- people who will follow blogs, the BBC website, the Arabic websites."...

Will the responders who are hired for this also present themselves as 'ordinary net-surfers'?

"Of course," says Shturman. "Our people will not say: 'Hello, I am from the policy-explanation department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and I want to tell you the following.' Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis. They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the Foreign Ministry developed."

Image source here.

IDF in Gaza: 'running a Wild West scene'

Israeli soldiers in Gaza describe a 'moral Twilight Zone'

McClatchy: Israeli combat soldiers have acknowledged that they forced Palestinian civilians to serve as human shields, needlessly killed unarmed Gazans and improperly used white phosphorus shells to burn down buildings as part of Israel's three-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter.

In filmed testimony and written statements released Wednesday, more than two dozen soldiers told an Israeli army veterans' group that military commanders led the fighters into what one described as a 'moral Twilight Zone.'...

"Phosphorus was used as an igniter, simply make it all go up in flames," one soldier said. A second soldier told Breaking the Silence that at least one officer fired unauthorized white phosphorus mortars because it was "cool."...

One soldier said they were repeatedly told by officers to raze buildings as part of a campaign to prepare for "the day after." "In practical terms, this meant taking a house that is not implicated in any way, that its single sin is the fact that it is situated on top of a hill... In a personal talk with my battalion commander he mentioned this and said in a sort of half-smile, I think, that this is something that will eventually be added to 'my war crimes."...

Israeli combatants said they forced Palestinians to search homes for militants and enter buildings ahead of soldiers... "Sometimes a force would enter while placing rifle barrels on a civilian's shoulder"... Each Palestinian forced to work with the Israeli military was given the same nickname: Johnnie...

One of the Israeli soldiers interviewed described the offensive as necessary. "We did what we had to do. The actual doing was a bit thoughtless. We were allowed to do anything we wanted. Who's to tell us not to?"

One Israeli reservist said a brigade commander gave them stark orders as they were preparing for combat. "He said something along the line of 'Don't let morality become an issue; that will come later."... "You felt like a child playing around with a magnifying glass, burning up ants," another soldier said. "A 20-year-old kid should not be doing such things to people... the guys were running a 'Wild West' scene: draw, cock, kill."

Image source here.

'Britain must retreat from Afghanistan'

Time for the Government to Decide on Afghanistan

Daily Express: In case anyone hadn't noticed, there is a war on. And when this nation is at war it has a tradition of pulling together in support of the troops. But as far as the campaign in Afghanistan is concerned there is precious little sign of that... And yet the Government has been put under almost no pressure to explain what our soldiers are doing and when it expects their mission to be completed...

This newspaper's assessment is that the chance of outright victory in Afghanistan vanished the moment US and British forces went into Iraq. The focus on Afghanistan was lost and the coalition against terror broke up. There is now little prospect of the rest of Nato committing wholeheartedly to the fight against the Taliban. In a war of attrition, such as is presently being fought, victory will not be achieved, but heavy losses will certainly be sustained.

Who has the guts to pull out?

English military historian Corelli Barnett, in the Daily Mail: Gordon Brown yesterday warned that there will be many more young Britons killed and wounded in the hard campaigning to come -- though whether that campaigning may last for weeks, months of years he refused to say. And for what purpose?... For what purpose are their families suffering such grief?...

They say our soldiers are dying in order to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan in time for presidential elections in November, in which that politically impotent clown 'President' Karzai will stand again... We are told that our occupation forces are 'winning hearts and minds' among the local people, when the truth is that support for the Taliban is growing.

Only a fool would believe that villagers are won over by foreign soldiers in full combat gear fighting house-by-house and calling in air-strikes that kill women and children instead of Taliban. I say 'foreign' soldiers, but the better word would be 'alien,' given that very few of them are Muslim or Asian, and most are Christians and of European or American nationality. They must make much the same impression on the locals as Taliban fighters in black turbans and draped with machine-guns would make on entering a Norfolk village...

So what should we do? The Duke of Wellington once said that the real test of a general was to know when to retreat and dare to do it... Britain must retreat from Afghanistan, and they must now dare to announce a future date for this.

Image source here.

Facing climate change: collapse or maturity?

The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse'

Jonathan Owen, The Independent: An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting change of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, 'billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse.' This is the stark warning from the biggest single report to look at the future of the planet...

The global recession has lowered the State of the Future Index for the next 10 years. Half the world could face violence and unrest due to severe unemployment combined with scarce water, food and energy supplies and the cumulative effects of climate change... 'The scope and scale of the future effects of climate change -- ranging from changes in weather patterns to loss of livelihoods and disappearing states -- has unprecedented implications for political and social stability.'

But the authors suggest the threats could also provide the potential for a positive future... 'The good news is that the global financial crisis and climate change planning may be helping humanity to move from its often selfish, self-centred adolescence to a more globally responsible adulthood... Many perceive the current economic disaster as an opportunity to invest in the next generation of greener technologies, to rethink economic and development assumptions, and to put the world on course for a better future.'

Scientific and technological progress continues to accelerate... But technological progress carries its own risks. 'Globalisation and advanced technology allow fewer people to do more damage and in less time.'... The report also praises the Web, which it singles out as 'the most powerful force for globalisation, democratisation, economic growth, and education in history.'...

The immediate problems are rising food and energy prices, shortages of water and increasing migrations 'due to political, environmental and economic conditions' which could plunge half the world into social instability and violence. And organised crime is flourishing, with a global income estimated at $3 trillion -- twice the military budgets of all countries in the world combined.

The effects of climate change are worsening -- by 2025 there could be three billion people without adequate water as the population rises still further. And massive urbanisation, increased encroachment on animal territory, and concentrated livestock production could trigger new pandemics.

Image from animated Climate Time Machine.

United will fix broken guitar

United Breaks Guitars (music video)

Broken guitar song hits high note with musicians

Airline protest song makes Halifax songwriter 'a hero' to travelling bands

CBC: Dave Carroll, whose song about United Airlines damaging his guitar has become an internet sensation, is a hero to Canadian musicians' association AFM Canada...

'He accomplished with his one song more than all the lawyers and lobbyists and union officials in North America for the past eight years,' said Bill Skolnik, vice-president of the organization representing 17,000 Canadian musicians.

Carroll, the songwriter for Halifax band Sons of Maxwell, wrote a song about seeing the band's guitars deliberately damaged by baggage handlers outside the plane window, an incident that led to his $3,500 Taylor guitar being broken.

After trying for nine months to get compensation from United Airlines and being turned down flat, he vowed to write three songs about the experience. The video of the first song... has had more than 1.3 million hits [in five days]. That got the attention of United Airlines and every airline in North America, Skolnik told CBC News.

'To us, Dave is a hero. The working life of every musician is going to be better because of his music,' Skolnik said. 'It's not money, it's care. That's really what his video's about. I mean, treat our instruments the way you treat your planes.'

Whether airlines will transport musical instruments, and how they handle them, has been an issue for AFM Canada since 2001, Skolnik said. He estimates AFM Canada handles two cases a year of serious damage to musical instruments -- including the National Ballet orchestra cellist who had his instrument smashed on a major tour.

'Every instrument is unique in how it sounds or how it feels.' he said. 'Musicians need the security of having their precious things with them.' The problem is that they never know whether they will be able to take their instruments into the cabin until they actually get on the plane.

Dave Carroll wins war with United Airlines

Company says it will compensate musician for breaking his guitar

Image: Dave Carroll; source here.

Male leaders twist texts to subjugate women

Jimmy Carter, in The Guardian: I have been a practicing Christian all my life... My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me... So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses... ordained that women must be 'subservient' to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors, or chaplains in the military service...

This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief... This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women's equal rights across the world for centuries. The male interpretations of religious texts and the way they interact with, and reinforce, traditional practices justify some of the most pervasive, persistent, flagrant and damaging examples of human rights abuses.

At their most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

The impact of these religious beliefs touches every aspect of their lives. They help explain why in many countries boys are educated before girls; why girls are told when and whom they must marry; and why many face enormous and unacceptable risks in pregnancy and childbirth because their basic health needs are not met...

During the years of the early Christian church women served as deacons, priests, bishops, apostles, teachers and prophets. It wasn't until the fourth century that dominant Christian leaders, all men, twisted and distorted holy scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the religious hierarchy. The truth is that male religious leaders have had -- and still have -- an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or to subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter.

Empire Shield is watching you

US spy aircraft could soon patrol border in BC

Vancouver Sun: Two Predator B aircraft are flying along the North Dakota-Saskatchewan border, with plans to run the aircraft all across the US-Canada border, said Juan Munoz-Torres, a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman from Washington, DC.

'Eventually, we would like to fly them all along the northern border, from Maine to Seattle,' said Munoz-Torres. 'We are probably going to do operations along the border. It's just a matter of time.' ...

Munoz-Torres said the camera capabilities of the Predator are identical to manned aircraft already in use -- the difference is that the Predator can fly for more than 20 hours without stopping, and only requires a crew of two people on the ground to operate it.

In the latest thickening of the international boundary, an unmanned Predator B aircraft was launched last month under a Homeland Security mission code-named Operation Empire Shield, part of the post-9-11 push to secure US borders with advanced technology, from radiation detectors to biometrics...

The June test flights follow new US border security measures unveiled last month, including passport requirements at land border crossings and a planned 45-per-cent increase in US border guards along the northern frontier by 2010.

A civilian version of the armed unmanned aircraft used by the military, the Predator typically flies at up to 250 knots at an altitude of 5,700 metres while carrying up to 1,360 kilograms of sensors for land and maritime surveillance, day or night. It can operate at altitudes of up to 15,000 metres.

Image source here.

Iran protests 'hopeful and energetic'

Nico Pitney: Jubilation. It's striking, after the last few weeks of fear and anger and frustration we've heard from people in Tehran, just how joyful people seem to be in returning to the streets and being together again.

New York Times: There was initially a festive air even though bands of dozens of police officers in heavy riot gear had shut down the streets surrounding the city's Revolution Street... A middle-age woman ran through the crowd, her coat covered with blood stains... The security forces did not fire on protesters, witnesses said. A 55-year-old woman on the streets in support of the marchers said: 'This is Iran. We are all together.'...

For weeks prior to Thursday's protest, much of the popular unrest had taken more subtle forms in the face of the government's heavy crackdown. A flier circulating in Tehran asked people to turn on all their electrical appliances at the same time to crash the electric grid as a sign of defiance, and opposition leaders had issued statements of continued defiance on their Web sites... In the nation's clerical establishment, a dispute about the results of the election continued to grow.

Eyewitness messages: The crowds are too huge to contain. Riot police running up and down Fatemi Street beating people... The crowds just get out of their way and come back. Saw two undercover Basij, one was actually a late 40s businessman in a suit, whipped out a collapsible metal baton and started beating someone with a camera... Another Basij came on motorcycle to help but crowds started surging and booed them away... The main theme is that people are surprisingly non-violent. They seem hopeful and energetic. People from all levels of society are out...

There is not a single march, but protesters gather in groups of 200-300, and do not move when attacked. The basijis are trying to prevent large groups to form, but people are not forming such large groups; however there is so much protest that it cannot be contained... People of all ages are out, but the young are more present... The sense is that this is the beginning of the end...

One 26 year old engineering student said: 'Tell the world what is happening here. This is our revolution. We will not give up.' Asked what he wanted he said 'We want democracy.' Men and women are in the streets, but young men are mostly in the side alleys where it's hard to see amidst the trash fires...

The police are desperately trying to contain crowds by shooting tear gas... Crowd keeps coming back -- there's one bus full of people that's inching along and everyone on board is chanting. Saw two men carrying a huge floral arrangement of yellow and purple flowers on green leaves above their heads in commemoration of those killed in the last month and 1999. Someone beside me said: 'They're risking their lives to do that. The police will not be afraid to kill them for that.'

Juan Cole, Informed Comment: A new and significant feature of this demonstration was that simultaneous rallies also occurred in cities all around the country. Although the crowds were relatively small, this national coordination suggests a national underground organization is emerging.

Los Angeles Times: The screams of a woman being beaten could be heard from nearby buildings, a witness said. Business owners could be seen hustling protesters into their buildings to shield them from plainclothes officers and anti-riot police who fired tear gas canisters. Passing drivers and motorcyclists honked their horns and flashed the 'V' sign in support of the clumps of demonstrators. Many of the demonstrators wore surgical masks to protect their identities from cameras stationed at adjacent buildings. They could be seen escaping into side streets and regrouping as shops quickly were shuttered...

Protesters urges the security forces to join them... The Basiji militiamen could be seen fanning out throughout side streets to block demonstrators trying to flee. Armored police vans to haul away protesters could be seen parked along the roadways. But as the militiamen tried to drag away demonstrators, protesters joined together to overpower them and rescue their comrades. The witness also said he saw some women with their headscarves pulled off being forced into police vans. Another woman taking pictures with her cell phone camera was dragged away... One witness described how five Basiji militiamen pummeled an elderly lady who loudly warned them that they would receive their comeuppance on Judgment Day.

Image source here.

Stephen Harper and depression

A family tragedy that Stephen Harper has not forgotten

Lawrence Martin, The Globe and Mail: Much is unknown about Stephen Harper. He's more remote than recent Prime Ministers. Among his many qualities, a sunny disposition is not to be found. Much is internalized.

The other day, he surprised us with a touching eulogy for Dave Batters, the former Saskatchewan MP who took his own life. The Prime Minister spoke of how the 39-year-old had struggled with severe anxiety and depression. Depression, said Mr. Harper... 'can strike even the sturdiest of souls. It cares how how much you have achieved of how much you have to live for.'... 'Dave was a very human politician,' Mr. Harper said. 'He opened himself to others. It strengthened his hand in representing his constituents, but it rendered him vulnerable to depression, as it can to any of us.'

Men's depression is different -- and dangerous

Dr. Tom Keenan, Calgary Herald: In his aptly-titled book I Don't Want to Talk About It -- Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression, Harvard psychotherapist Terrence Real calls chronic depression a 'silent epidemic in men.' He notes the 'problems that we think of as typically male -- difficulty with intimacy, workaholism, alcoholism, abusive behavior, and rage -- are really attempts to escape depression.' Real explains that... 'boys, and later men, tend to externalize pain: they are more likely to feel victimized by others and to discharge distress through action.'

Depression in Men

Cleveland Clinic: Some mental health care professionals suggest that if the symptoms of depression were expanded to include anger, blame, lashing out, and abuse of alcohol, more men might be diagnosed with depression and treated appropriately... Depression in men often can be traced to cultural expectations. Men are supposed to be successful. They should restrain their emotions. They must be in control. These cultural expectations can mask some of the true symptoms of depression, forcing men to express aggression and anger (viewed as more acceptable 'tough guy' behavior) instead.

Image: CBC

Macho culture and feminist men

Afghan women victims of 'widespread' rape: UN

Vancouver Sun: Preliminary data 'suggests that rape is a widespread occurrence in all parts of Afghanistan and in all communities, and all social groups.'... Victims seeking help and justice are often further victimised by the culture of impunity, while police and prosecutors are often unaware or unconvinced that rape is a serious crime... Women are also the victims of so-called 'honor' killings, trafficking and abduction, as well as early and forced marriages and domestic violence. Girls and women are exchanged to resolve disputes over land and property.

South Africa high number of rapes linked to macho culture

Vancouver Sun: South Africa must end a culture of male dominance to fight one of the world's highest rates of rape, according to the author of a study in which 28 per cent of men interviewed admitted they had raped someone... Rachel Jewkes, of the South African Medical Research Council: 'Fundamentally, rape is a problem that stems from ideas of manhood... The position of men is superior to women in a patriarchal society and legitimates men's behaviours towards women, predicated on ideas of sexual entitlement and behaviours that demonstrate men being in control over women.'

Stan Goff, Energy War: Feminism is the precondition of any lasting social transformation, because patriarchy as both the political and metaphorical model for all relations of domination is the most long-standing, persistent, and intractable cultural form of oppressive power... There is no ideology that is experienced with the same personal and emotional force, that is perceived more like a law of nature, that is imprinted earlier or with more relentlessness during the socialization of individual human beings, than gender -- and in the actually-existing world, that means male and female as masculinity and femininity, in a hierarchical relation.

In Sex and War: Men remain reluctant to acknowledge the centrality of gender as a system of material, ideological, and psychological power because that acknowledgment puts their own entitlements and their own pretensions and insecurities under the bright light of criticism.

Utah Phillips, Democracy Now! (May 27, 2008): I tell you, the great struggles, the wars that you're talking about... the thing they all have in common is that it's young men with guns going it to everybody else. Women aren't doing it. Kids aren't doing it. Old people aren't doing it. Disabled people aren't doing it. It's young men with guns that are doing it to everybody else. We don't have a problem with violence in the world; we've got a male problem. I bought into it, so I know. And I'm buying myself out of it, you see. The most important movement in the world is the feminist movement. If we can really figure out what's going on between men and women, the other problems will take care of themselves, I'm sure of it.

Robert Jensen, 'Masculine, Feminine, or Human?': After thousands of years of patriarchy in which men have defined themselves as superior to women in most aspects of life, leading to a claim that male dominance is natural and inevitable, we should be skeptical about claims about these allegedly inherent differences between men and women. Human biology is pretty clear: People are born male or female, with a small percentage born intersexed. But how we should make sense of those differences outside reproduction is not clear. And if we are able to make sense of it in a fashion that is consistent with justice -- that it, in a feminist context -- then we would benefit from a critical evaluation of the categories themselves, no matter how uncomfortable that may be.

Image source here.

Rich countries grab land for food and profit

Fears for the world's poor countries as the rich grab land to grow food

The Guardian: The acquisition of farmland from the world's poor by rich countries and international corporations is accelerating at an alarming rate, with an area half the size of Europe's farmland targeted in the last six months... The land grab is being blamed on wealthy countries with concerns about food security...

Oliver De Schutter, special envoy for food at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that about one-fifth of the land deals were expected to grow biofuel crops... Some of the world's largest food, financial and car companies have invested in land...

Devinder Sharma, analyst with the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security in India, predicted civil unrest. 'Outsourcing food production will ensure food security for investing countries but would leave behind a trail of hunger, starvation and food scarcities for local populations. The environmental tab of highly intensive farming -- devastated soils, dry aquifer, and ruined ecology from chemical infestation -- will be left for the host country to pick up.'

Concern is mounting because much of the land has been targeted for its good water supplies and proximity to ports. According to a report last month by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, the land deals 'create risks and opportunities.'

'Increased investment may bring benefits such as GDP growth and improved government revenues, and may create opportunities for economic development and livelihood improvement. But they may result in local people losing access to the resources on which they depend for their food security.'...

According to a US-based think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, nearly $20bn to $30bn a year is being spent by rich countries on land in developing countries.

Food Crisis and the Global Land Grab

Blog set up by Grain posting news reports about the global rush to buy or lease farmlands abroad as a strategy to secure basic food supplies or simply for profit. It serves as a resource for those monitoring or researching the issue, particularly social activists, NGOs and journalists.

Image source here.

Please watch: 'Fewer of us will be killed'

Iran Goes on Strike

Opposition leaders in Iran are planning a three-day strike to be carried out under the cover of a religious holiday.

Reza Azlan, The Daily Beast: Monday is the start of an unusual three-day Islamic holiday called Itikaf. Sometimes translated as 'seclusion' or 'retreat,' Itikaf is a time when particularly pious Muslims cloister themselves inside homes of mosques for a period of intense prayer and deep spiritual reflection... Mousavi's web site has called on Iranians to use the state-sanctioned holiday to launch a three-day, nation-wide strike and boycott of businesses and banks...

The practice of Itikaf allows Muslims to refrain from appearing at work, without facing any consequences. It allows people to simply disappear from public without need for explanation. It also allows for mass assembly inside mosques, homes, and other gathering places -- the equivalent of a peaceful sit-in...

The Itikaf holiday will end on Thursday, July 9th, or 18 Tir in the Islamic calendar. That date marks the tenth anniversary of a savage crackdown on students... The events of that summer day in 1999 are referred to as 'The 18 Tir Massacre.' For ten years, the regime has outlawed all public commemorations... This year protesters plan a huge demonstration to observe 18 Tir, and to openly challenge the regime to respond.

The revolution, it turns out, is far from over. Now if only Iranians can get the rest of us to care. As I ended my phone conversation with the Mousavi aide, he pleaded with me to 'please tell the western media to keep paying attention to us. Please let them know if they are watching, fewer of us will be killed.'

92 Killed in Tehran Say Doctors Who Fled

Le Figaro: Among the dead were an eight months pregnant woman and six young males... 'Their skulls had been smashed and their brains had been opened, presumably to retrieve the bullet and destroy evidence of the crime.'... On June 15th the Rasoul Akram Hospital received 38 casualties... 'We found that bullets had passed through the torsos diagonally, which means they were fired from above -- i.e. a roof,' says the second doctor.

Doctors at Tehran hospitals were forced to certify that the deceased died of natural causes. A colleague who was on emergency duty paid a price for refusing to cooperate. 'After being missing for thirty-six hours, he was found half-conscious and disfigured on the sidewalk.'...

The bodies of some protesters were speedily removed. 'We think they were transferred to the military hospital or a place unknown to the general public.' Then, under the pretext of 'organ donation,' the evidence of bullet wounds were excised. Families were forced to go along with the deception in order to recover the remains for burial.

Image source here.

McNamara gets to die in his sleep at 93

Understatement for the day:

Robert McNamara: What I've learned

"One of the lessons of Vietnam was that we as a people, as a nation, must learn to empathize with others in the world -- particularly our opponents. Sympathy is not a synonym of empathy: Empathy means understanding; sympathy means agreeing or embracing. I don't think we as a nation have learned to empathize."

Digby, at Hullabaloo: "Part of the framing of The Fog of War as well as one of McNamara's later books was the 11 causes and lessons that he listed coming out of Vietnam... Although I'd like to think that some statesman could learn from these lessons and take America off such a self-destructive course, given the nature of the people who rise to power in [the US] I don't know if that's possible... The peculiar dynamics of the political world, the need to act tough in foreign policy, the seeming inability for leaders to step outside themselves and view things through the lens of others, the narrow and incomplete renderings of history often at work, and of course the lure of money and power and the industry of war, resist politicians coming to any of these conclusions... [The US has] so frequently bungled into conflicts, presuming our role in them when the other participants see it differently, making shortcuts while rationalizing ourselves as heroic, changing the rules if found to violate them, and controlling the message of moral rectitude rather than the actions. I find these cautions from McNamara to be crucially important, but even in my most optimistic moments I don't believe America is even wired to live up to them."

From The Fog of War, McNamara talking about the firebombing of Tokyo in World War II: "Curtis LeMay said, 'If we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals.' And I think he's right. He, and I'd say I, were behaving as war criminals... But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?"

Image source here.